Sharon community remembers Bob Sondheim

With the sudden passing of Bob Sondheim, 63, on Apr. 8, people are remembering a man who was loved by many and invested his life in the town he has lived in most of his life.

Sondheim retired last June after 11 years as the Sharon High School athletic director and coaching swimming for six years before that. He was also a member of the town’s finance committee from 1980-1986.

With the sudden passing of Bob Sondheim, 63, on Apr. 8, people are remembering a man who was loved by many and invested his life in the town he has lived in most of his life.

Sondheim retired last June after 11 years as the Sharon High School athletic director and coaching swimming for six years before that. He was also a member of the town’s finance committee from 1980-1986.

He enjoyed gardening, singing, and telling stories to anyone who would listen.

“He was extremely well respected by students, staff, and the community, and by local Hockomock league athletic directors and principals,” Sharon High School principal Jose Libano said. “He was just a genuinely nice guy. He’s going to be sorely missed around here and in the community.”

Libano said Sondheim was a swimmer at American University and also swam the English Channel, which brought a smile to people whenever Sondheim gave a speech.

“Every time he made a speech he would bring up his effort to swim the English Channel,” Libano said. “People would make bets on the side, ‘is he going to mention the English Channel?’ He went out of his way to teach people life lessons through athletics.”

Libano said he has received an outpouring of emails expressing condolences from parents, and coaches and athletic directors in other communities.

It was evident Sondheim loved working with kids, according to Steve Grogan of Grogan Marciano Sporting Goods in Mansfield. Grogan spoke at Sondheim’s retirement roast and also recently did a cable television program with Sondheim and former athletic director David Clifton.

“He knew a lot of people and I never heard anybody say a bad word about him,” Grogan said. “He was really enjoying retirement. This is just a shock to hear he’s not with us any more. He was a wonderful guy.”

Even in retirement, Sondheim kept active by volunteering to coach the high school swim team and working on an invention he began working on almost two years ago with his late wife who died from cancer.

He was creating a modified wheelchair to allow for devices that allow a person to be carried differently.

“We’ll also change how hospitals transport patients. The other thing is to increase independence of persons with disabilities, especially paraplegics, not quads. Hospitals are interested as well as some of the trade networks on television. It’s a service thing, not a money thing,” Sondheim said in June before he retired.

School superintendent Timothy Farmer said Sondheim told him two weeks ago that he had a law firm representing him and was at the point where he was ready to begin doing sales pitches about it.

“I think it’s metaphorical for Bob’s life. When he saw the need he wanted to fill the void,” Farmer said.

Page 2 of 3 - Farmer said as recently as the Sharon Education Foundation’s spelling bee in March, Sondheim was talking about gardening and getting his hands into the soil because he loved gardening.

“He was a wonderful man who always seemed to be even tempered. I never saw him frustrated. Something I admired about him was his ability to maintain that level of calm,” Farmer said.

Peg Arguimbau met Sondheim when their children attended nursery school together. They worked together, he as athletic director and she as the varsity field hockey coach at Sharon High School.

"He loved to sing so I would incorporate his talent, along with a few of the dads, into my season-ending team song at the field hockey banquet," Arguimbau said. "He joined in whole-heartedly. The parody to "My Girl" was one of his favorites."

Arguimbau said Sondheim was the recipient of the "Birds of a Feather Award" during a 2011 football game, an award he had established as a way for senior captains to honor individuals and teachers that had had an impact on their lives during their school years.

"Many Sharon coaches, from all sports, were there to honor him as our way of recognizing the impact he had on our lives as coaches. He was escorted to mid-field by his son, Andy, and his daughter, Carrie. It was a complete surprise to him which made it all the sweeter," Arguimbau said. "The town of Sharon is diminished by his passing."

The senior class of 2012 chose Sondheim as its graduation speaker last year and he is remembered for the encouraging, heartfelt words he shared and some of the eleven principles he told graduates to take to heart.

“Deal with being who you are without envy or self pity,” Sondheim said. “Look for the good in people because we all have it. Never forget it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile.”

Libano said he announced Sondheim’s death to students, teachers and staff this morning, and also sent a message to parents.

Libano said no school memorial observance has been scheduled yet. Funeral arrangements weren’t immediately available.